Time Bubbles
by Blue Mistfall
Summary: A crossover AU story featuring the cross-eyed girl with a talent of getting into trouble and the tenth kid from the large and unusual Turner family. What can happen after those two meet?
1. Meet the Turners

**A/N: This story takes place in an crossover AU, which is inhabited by creatures that look like people, but have tails and sometimes "special features" (like wings and "mage bumps") depending on their race. There are three races: "ordinary" (MLP prototype - earth ponies), "winged" (pegasi) and "mages" (unicorns), and they also carry "talking" names.  
**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Ding-ding-ding-ding! - the bicycle ring sounded cheerfully, and a flap of a newspaper against the doorstep followed. There were few letters, so Derpy only had to deliver these rolled up info sources. What? She liked doing this. At least she couldn't break anything here despite her over-clumsiness, and that meant less troubles. Also while riding her bike she had a feeling as if she could ever properly fly. Not hover, but fly with wings perfectly spread...

Having got too deep in daydreaming, Derpy rode off the road and nearly crashed into a new mailbox signed "Turner". What's that? She fell off things quite frequently, but, despite the opinion of several cynical subjects, she had a fine memory. First, there was a pack in her bag featuring this surname. Second, they must've been new in town. Derpy knew it well where everyone lived, and there had been no Turners until now.

Really, they had just come - there were piles of boxes in the yard, and there were three people fussing around them. As required, all three of them had different "featured": the first one was ordinary, black-headed, wearing a panama hat, sleeveless jacket with question marks pattern and checkered trousers, the second one was fair-haired and winged like Derpy, and the third one was the tallest, dressed in fancy fashion, with a cloud of ash-colored hair which was somehow similar to candy floss and a tail of the same style (though he was obviously not older than twenty) and doubtlessly a mage. Who else it was if not him attempting to put the box version of the leaning tower of Pisa around, not using hands?

"Why don't you call for Tricky or Victorian?" the fair-haired one asked, timidly watching the box surrounded with silvery blue shine, soaring over their heads. "Their magic is not weaker than yours, Dandy".

"Tenderheart, you've forgotten that if you want to do something, do it by yourself", Dandy replied (it was truly a coincidence of name and character), not breaking the process. "Besides, they're so different that their wisdom bumps can be distracted by each other. You could've called for Glimmer as well!"

"By the way, Glimmer does it brilliantly!"

This sounded from the house's upper window, and the owner of the voice showed himself soon, sticking out till his waist. He was skinny, dark-haired, with fringe sticking up, dark blue eyes shining with enthusiasm (though they looked brown to Derpy at first - maybe due to her own "disadvantage"?) and smile which took half of his face - as for the girl, it didn't suit to his official style: white shirt, mint green tie and classical trousers of chocolate color.

"Ah-ha!" the new one went on. "I've been training Glimmer and Quote. You know, they both are quite fine..."

Hardly had he finished when two boys of about seven or eight, armed with crayons, rushed out of the front door: one of them was all rosy cheeks and large dark fringe combed to the side (which didn't cover his bump in the middle of his forehead - the sign of magical abilities), and the other, on the contrary, was pale and with huge light blue eyes which made him look surprised. Better such than like mine, Derpy thought.

"Don't you dare disturb Dandy", the black-haired one in the question mark jacket warned. "You know his attitude to this".

"No worries, Riddler, we know... Oh, hi". The pale one (most probably, Quote - wasn't Glimmer one of mages?) was the first to notice Derpy who was daydreaming again (thank goodness that pack sent to the Turners was the last one for today).

"Whoa, we've got a visitor", the spiky-fringed one from the window caught up and then did a thing which made everyone, including Dandy who was still busy with the tidying up, stare at him: he simply bounced down from the windowsill, but he didn't drop down like a stone, having glided down like on an invisible hang-glider. This floating lasted unbelievably long and finished with a soft landing.

"Wow..." Derpy exhaled. "But... how did you do that? You don't even have any wings".

"When you have eleven brothers, all different, you gotta learn to do something!" he replied gleefully. "Name's Time. Time Turner".

"Derpy Hooves... Actually I'm Ditzy Doo, but... I've brought a pack for you".

Losing no time, Dandy made the pack fly to him from Derpy's hands:

"Aha, it's right. That's ours. Hobo!.. Ho-bo... HOBO! Where's he?.."

One more emerged out of nowhere - he was small, with a shock of shiny black hair and wearing clothes that knew better times, which at first hid the fact that their owner was winged.

"Ah, my details... Thank you, Miss Hooves", Hobo smiled politely. The next sentence was addressed to Dandy and without such tact: "If I see you fiddling with them..."

"Never mind them, Dandy and Hobo always fight like this. It's fine that History's not here now, he would've teased them even more", Time whispered, coming closer to Derpy. Wait! He had a familiar face. She had seen him somewhere, for sure.

"Was that you at Cloudsdale when it was the competition of the young pilots?" This was said against Derpy's will, as if her tongue worked on its own. But then no one accused her in being impolite, like it used to happen.

"That was my twin. Of course it was me! Those clip-on wings gave me the most horrible kind of rash... Sometimes you gotta keep silent about things you can do not to get into trouble".

"I still can't fly", Derpy admitted.

"Can't you?"

"Uh-huh. I've tried it many times, but I just can't. I don't know what to do with my arms and legs!.."

Time sighed:

"Listen, it's not too complicated. If you like, I can help you with this".

"Really?!"

"Why would I tell lies? But not now. When will you have free time? Let's meet and set it all in a couple of days".

* * *

"Our Cross-Eyes is happy today", Octavia mentioned, hardly had Derpy entered the classroom. At first it could seem that this always tidy and strictly dressed girl was a total snob, but truly she treated everybody equally, without being haughty and everything. "Come on, tell it".

They noticed. Damned blush didn't wish to get off Derpy's cheeks. And it was accompanied by the feeling of heartbeat, hot and powerful. It seemed that it was the reason of her cheeks reddening.

"Seize that, Derpy, you cannot pretend", Lyra interfered. She didn't look like other girls due to her greenish turquoise hair with white locks (even her tail was of the same colors, and there was a suspicion that it wasn't the result of using the hair dye) which half-closed her mage's bump. "Don't tell if you don't want to..."

"But don't explode!" Vinyl Scratch put in. She was Octavia's full counterpart, as well as mage like Lyra and the school's main DJ. Insane rhythms and trademark "cool" glasses, that's what she was like. It was too early now, so only the three of them and Derpy were in the classroom.

"Girls, it seems that I'm going to learn how to fly soon..." Without realizing her actions, Derpy sidewards flopped at the desk, her wings spread more than usually.

"With happiness", Octavia finished. "Is that because of a guy?"

"What?!" Vinyl didn't lose time and fell off the desk onto which she had climbed.

"If a girl drops things, falls down frequently and cannot fly while having wings, there's a huge possibility that those are her natural cons..." Octavia stated.

"Which can be fixed, and it seems you've got progress", Lyra mentioned without delaying it.

"...and if this becomes worse and better in turn, this is because of a guy", Octavia went on smoothly.

"And today under bridge with trail they caught the Doctor and his tail", Vinyl informed, getting onto the desk again.

"Whom?.." Either Derpy was still sleepy (she hadn't been sleeping half of the night) or the blasted blush covered everything it could, but she didn't understand the subject of the talk.

"The Doctor. I mean the newbie", Vinyl continued, swinging her legs. "I knew that someone's gonna be transferred to us, and therefore decided to make it clear. Everyone used to call him the Doctor in his old school. Dunno why. I've seen him. Seems to be a smart chap..."

"His name's not the Doctor, it's Time Turner", Derpy interrupted, memorizing nothing.

"Ah, that's it!" Vinyl beamed. "I'll say one thing, girls: if our Derpy has bubbles in her head, then now they are heart-shaped".

"Nonsense! He promised to teach me how to..." Finally the sensibility worked! How would've she explained if she had blabbed it all out? Flying wingless ones are at least rare, and everyone's curious about rarities.

* * *

"No-no! It's done in a slightly different way!"

Derpy flopped onto the ground once again, having not controlled her wings - they didn't want to unfurl, and she had to wave them very quickly, like a hummingbird, at least to tear herself off the ground, when they were like this. And Time didn't like this at all.

"Rule number one: your wings are going to consume energy and give almost no result when they are like this", he said, touching Derpy's right wing. "Whoa, that's total rubbish".

"I told you that I don't know what to do with my arms and legs! And unfurling... I tried. And failed", Derpy sniffed. "They're as tight as an old chewing gum".

"Did you try to relax?" Time asked. "Maybe you're not letting them unfold?"

"I always thought you gotta use force to achieve something", Derpy replied, standing up. Thank goodness her pants and sweatshirt were grey - dirt is less seen on such background, and this was required now.

"Okay, let's do it another way. You ride your bike pretty well. Do you remember your learning how to do it?"

"Erm..."

"At first there were many trials and fails, and then you controlled it! You didn't even get sweaty after delivering mail and newspapers around the town... It's like that here".

"It's easy for you to say. You have no wings and you still can fly".

"Hahaha, my family consists of twelve guys, and that's not a joke! You're going to fly like this anyway!.. Sorry. Let's try again. Relax, it's easy. Stop blocking your wings, let them unfold... They look as if held in corset. Fine. Inhale as deeply as you can, slowly".

Surprised, Derpy obeyed.

"More, more, more... Now exhale, briskly. Repeat this several times".

After five or six inhales and exhales something unexpected took place again - Time loudly clapped his hands once, and Derpy jumped up, alerted. And she didn't just jump, as it came out.

"There! This looks like something!" Time shot out, beaming till his ears once again - the girl was hovering, almost not using her wings (which seemed to get larger). "You know what's the trick? Don't think, do it! You've been trying to fly up and got nothing, and now..."

He had better not said that - after having realized her soaring without madly waving her wings, Derpy collapsed. Right to there where she didn't need to.

"I spoiled it all again..." she mumbled, getting off Time who was spread under her.

"It's okay. You need to learn to do this without thinking. You don't think when you walk about how you do it, you just walk. It's like this here". Time didn't seem to be worried about grass and ground stuck to his clothes.

"They told me I'm cross-eyed because I don't think..."

"Forget it! Fools say things like that!"

For a while Derpy and Time were gazing at each other, not knowing what they should add. Eventually Time decided to break the silence:

"Let's try again. If you have bubbles in your head, you should fly like a bubble. Truly".

* * *

**A/N: The Turner family - the twelve brothers - are the versions twelve Doctors, and they have corresponding names.**

**One - History Turner, ordinary (most of his adventures are this or that way connected with history)**

**Two - Hobo Turner, winged (The Littlest Cosmic Hobo, remember?) **

**Three - Dandy Turner, mage (fancy fashion and "reversing the polarity") **_**Note: Time Turner's phrase "Dandy and Hobo always fight like this. It's fine that History's not here now, he would've teased them even more" is a reference to the classical DW episode The Three Doctors.**_

**Four - Tricky Turner, mage (the most extraordinary of them all)**

**Five - Tenderheart Turner, winged (the most vulnerable and soft-hearted)**

**Six - Blast Turner, winged ("an accident on the rainbow factory", you never know what to expect from him)**

**Seven - Riddler Turner, ordinary (he loves mysteries and puzzles)**

**Eight - Victorian Turner, mage (the Victorian gentleman)**

**Nine - Shade Turner, winged (the "darkest" of all group)**

**Ten - Time Turner, ordinary (no comments)**

**Eleven - Glimmer Turner, mage (he never tells things straight, preferring to give hints - like glimmering instead of light)**

**Twelve - Quote Turner, ordinary (he's famous for his phrases, at least now)**

**Continuation coming soon!**


	2. Things That Don't Change

"You sure it's safe?" Bon Bon asked, leaning over a clay bowl in which something shimmering like mercury and changing color every second like petrol spot in a puddle was bubbling.

"Oh, that's not more dangerous than mixing the ingredients for your sweeties", Vinyl Scratch replied - it was she who was holding this very bowl in the air, not using her hands. This was a rare case of her using her magic not for controlling her DJ attributes like music plants, loudspeakers, etc. It all had begun with Octavia's research with a prodigious theme related to the theory of probability, physics, space geography (or what it was called?) and magic equally. And this together with the fact that Octavia was an ordinary girl without wings or "the wizard's bump", so she needed help to accomplish tasks connected with magic. No one from their acquaintances had a telescope, so they had had to use another way, found by Lyra, another mage apart from Vinyl in their gang. This was was creating something like a liquid mirror which could show any place. Better than any telescope! But creating it also required magic, and right now all group was taking part.

"No-no-no, don't lower it too much!" Octavia, who was leading the process (she was the only one who had had enough patience to learn the recipe by heart with all details), called Vinyl right on time - the liquid in the bowl suddenly boiled fiercer like over-heated milk and nearly flowed over the old crucible on which it was warmed up. You're not going to prepare a magic potion (actually that was it) on a cooker! Such things didn't like interruptions, and vice versa.

All five girls were in the garage next to Lyra's house - they all were curious what was going to take place eventually. Finally Octavia gestured to stop the process, and Vinyl placed the bowl on an old bed-table. The liquid was moving for some more seconds and then calmed down, having created a mirror surface.

"Let's try it out", Derpy offered. "Show us..."

"Not so fast, Derpy", Vinyl grinned. "Everybody knows what you wanna see. I'll do it better. Show me..."

"This also refers to you!" Lyra interfered. "Let's do like this. If there's another world, like ours - show it!"

The elixir wobbled, and an image appeared on its surface, like on a mini TV screen - it was an urban landscape. To put it easy, the reflection of a very very huge megalopolis. Then the image became "closer", so now people, cars and other details were seen.

"Did it work, girls?" Bon Bon lightly blew on the bowl, and the "reflection" moved. "Cool. But... Lyra, why did you ask for this?"

"She's crazy about parallel worlds", Vinyl inserted before Lyra could have opened her mouth. "But I don't think it's so parallel".

"I do". Octavia, as usually, was the first who noticed even more details: the people on the streets had no tails, and all "ordinary", no wings or magic. "Do you think it worked twice? The potion's prepared, and Lyra's right too... Thanks, girls. You're the best!"

"Hoop-la, Derpy! Where are you going?"

Thanks so much, Vinyl, Derpy thought. As soon as she decided to go and tell everyone who knew about this about the success, Vinyl started to ask questions... Maybe she shouldn't have gone? Because Derpy turned around, and her tail was already in the bowl with the mixture. Clumsiness refers to all parts of the body...

The mirror liquid suddenly bubbled again and formed a giant wave - or a hand which lost no time in pulling Derpy into a whirlwind of colors and shadows. At least she thought so - the rest saw something silver twirling and then gone with their friend.

* * *

Smells! - Derpy thought, sitting up - she was so dizzy that her crossed eyes must have turned to normal and back a hundred times - and almost immediately smashed into something firm with the top of her head. The ceiling? It can't be a all so low! This appeared to be the table's top. This time acting more careful, Derpy crawled from under the table and looked around. It looked like a kitchen which needed to be ventilated. I shouldn't have hurried, Derpy thought and twisted to glance at her tail which now had silver tip apart from its natural blond shade...

"Who's there?"

Derpy dived under the table again - how could she know there was anyone else apart from her here? She wasn't expecting for this at all... A second later a rough fist grabbed her wrist and pulled out to the light.

"Who are you? How did you get here?!"

Derpy would have answered if her tongue didn't get wooden with fear - you shouldn't argue with such giants if you're not one of them. What to say about a teenage girl! And it was clear that the host - whoever else could that be? - didn't have any tail, like the people from the liquid "mirror".  
"Where were you hiding all the time?" the host hissed, not letting her go. "You showed yourself, so confess! You didn't appear out of thin air! I'm fed up with freaky friends who don't let my children grow up normally!"

"I... I am not..." Derpy mumbled, but the host's attention was now attracted to her wings sticking out of holes on her shirt:

"What? You think you're still a child?.. Fine. You'll stay here and I will make you a..."

It remained unclear whom her was going to make out of Derpy: the wild yell of pain sounded instead. Derpy recalled that one of her good friend's, Time Turner's, numerous brothers, Dandy Turner, had attempted to teach her how to defend herself. And it hadn't been for nothing - after Derpy slammed the giant in his nose with her forehead as strongly as she could (without thinking about consequences), her hands were free from the grasp. The girl dashed to the window, and her heart bounced to her throat - this kitchen was on twelfth floor, if not higher. Okay, she's going to jump, no more ways... What did Time teach me?.. - Derpy thought, hastily tugging to window handle.

The theory had to be declined when the windowsill was gone from under Derpy's feet. Deep inhale, quick exhale, more, more... Yes! Derpy's wings unfurled, having become about four times larger than in usual state, and at the height of the second floor she dashed up, flying from side to side between the buildings on insane speed (damned inertia!) before crash-landing in a sub-street behind the rubbish bins. It was better to get there than to that host...

Or it wasn't.

"Where's she?"

"Did you see that?"

"What?"

"Didn't you notice? A flying girl! She whizzed over the street and was gone!"

Derpy bit her lip not to freak out - she could, because she was more than scared.

"Yes, this is it!"

More voices telling different things but with the same sense... What should she do? Stay here? They will find her in a moment. Such landing effect is enough to wake all neighborhood. Should she fly away? Where to? She could be noticed from anywhere. If only... No. Derpy still couldn't fly well enough to reach the roof of the tallest building, and this was going to take time, because she was in the megalopolis which she had seen in the "mirror"... and it was senseless...

"Derpy Hooves?"

Derpy bounced with alert, but two alien hands didn't let her put everyone on alert again, having held her still.

"Hush, be quiet". A young man was now near her. Despite his being dressed in an old denim suit, his appearance was as if he had come out of a Victorian history textbook: chin-length auburn curls, bright blue eyes, thin lines and in all some... nobility was present in him, if so. "You're Derpy Hooves, aren't you?"

Derpy nodded, a slight squeak escaping her mouth.

"Stay calm. My name is Victorian Turner".

"P-prove, c-can you?.." This wasn't very convincing, but gave a result: her unexpected "opponent" moved his hand over his hair, showing his "mage's bump" in the middle of his forehead and activating it immediately - the apple core which had stuck to Derpy's shirt unattached itself on its own and fell into the closest bin. The "light effect" accompanying it appeared to be emerald green.

"I don't know what else to do". Victorian did a little twirl, showing that he also had a tail, as curly as his hair. "Enough?"

Derpy nodded.

"Your friends told Time what had happened, and he asked me to find you", Victorian informed. "Don't worry. I'm the main specialist in strange worlds among us..."

Time... He's looking for me, he didn't forget... - it flashed in Derpy's head, but went out as soon as the smell of rubbish struck her nose again.

"Y-you've been here?" she asked, attempting to cope with her clattering teeth.

"More than once. I know everything here... You're smart because you didn't clean your tail. The remains of your potion will help to get you back... that's the point, really: going from one world to another is a delicate matter, up to personal interference. To put it easy, your print is needed... Time's gonna come soon. It's not going to work without him".

"There she is!"

These words thrown by some almost random passer-by worked like an alarm: the whose sub-street suddenly was crowded with people eager to see something incredible for them. But Victorian didn't seem to give a damn about such mob - he got forward from behind the garbage bins, having stood between Derpy and the crowd:

"Anything wrong? Listen up, go away in peace. Can't you see she's horrified?"

"Move, freak!" someone from the mob shouted. "Don't protect an alien!"

"YES!" many voices yelled. "She's alien and dangerous!"

Victorian threw his head back and laughed like mad:

"Oh, really?! Then I am armed and dangerous!"

The words quickly gained a proof: all bins flew up at once and rumbled like hundreds of iron barrels falling from the tallest skyscrapers. And the "starter" didn't lose time: two second later Derpy realized she was flying, but not at her will - Victorian flew up, clutching her so that she couldn't fall out of his grasp. He must be a very powerful mage, Derpy though: she has seen Lyra's trials to learn to fly using her magic to make her body soar, but she had briskly surrendered. This was loads more difficult than making stubborn wings unfurl.

It seemed to Derpy that she had blacked out before Victorian let her go. They appeared in a dim windowless space full of bookshelves which didn't have an opportunity to get even one more book put on them. A mini library. But that was not the matter - the main thing was the one waiting for them.

"Derpy? Are you okay?"

"Time!" Derpy squeaked with delight that she saw someone familiar. In a moment Time Turner was drawn in her hug. "Goodness, I'm happy!"

"Am I not?" Time pronounced, getting out of her embrace. "I was afraid they were going to run experiments on you! It's great that your friends told me everything... Hush, hush, it's fine..." Having recalled Dandy's advice on what was the easiest way to calm a girl down, he obeyed it and kissed Derpy on the cheek, which made her stop. "We gotta wait. Victorian's gonna make a way out".

"Don't butter me up, bro. You both are gonna help me".

No, some things don't change, Derpy thought.


	3. Hourglasses and Foam

Derpy was dizzy due to several reasons. Firstly, she had recently returned to the "real" (or, more correctly, "right" - who said that world was not real?) world to which he had gone because of her own clumsiness. Again. Secondly, she had been brought from there by Victorian, the eighth brother from the very extraordinary and motley Turner family, and this had included loads of different magic. Derpy had never seen so much of it locked in one person. Thirdly, she, Time Turner (the tenth in the family) and her little sister Dinky (who had also incomprehensibly appeared in that world and, thank goodness, had avoided the consequences of unbridled xenophobia) had also taken part. And fourthly... and this "fourthly" was the most dizzying.

She couldn't even believe that an ordinary house could've contained so many people - twelve Turner brothers (actually this was their house), Derpy's friends - Vinyl Scratch, Octavia, Bon Bon and Lyra, herself, Dinky... and the most surprising was that no one objected against such atmosphere. On the contrary, the fact that everyone was wearing pyjamas and chatting about all kinds of things, was taken for granted. Derpy had thought that if such thing happened it would've ended at least with a fight, and at most... it had better not be imagined.

Victorian, Octavia and History, the oldest Turner (it was impossible to guess his age: he looked like a youngster, but his hair, combed back in the old-fashioned manner, was completely white), were discussing abstruse things like researches in magic and science (one of which had been the reason of Derpy's crossing the border between the worlds), sitting in the farther corner not to be disturbed. Having decided that she shouldn't make them mad, Derpy crawled among the pillows scattered around the floor to Lyra and Tricky Turner (number four), who were practising magic, sneakily hurling these very pillows at Blast Turner (who had number six and the most explosive pyjamas ever, sewn out of multi-colored patches of all kinds of fabric, and also wasn't suspecting anything) without using their hands. I wonder what it's like, moving things from distance?.. - Derpy thought and felt a prick of envy towards the mages. She had seen that mages are also able to fly - Victorian had brought her out of the crowd (which had never seen anyone like her), having saved her. No matter that you should be a truly powerful mage to do it? No matter... Dinky was a mage, but she still couldn't control her abilities in full measure (no wonder, she was nine!). By the way, where's she?

Having run across the "battlefield" (Vinyl, Bon Bon, Riddler, Shade, Time and Hobo were playing a "war" game, using pillows as grenades and material for building protection walls, while Tenderheart acted as a judge), Derpy made her way upstairs. Giggling and sounds marking the usage of magic - tiny firework explosions and ringing - were heard from there. This is it. Dinky and two youngest Turners - Glimmer and Quote - were fussing with a pile of patches, as if trying to complete a jigsaw puzzle, but as soon as Derpy entered, all three squeaked and hid them under themselves.

"Hush, you three! I'm not looking! You know that I'm cross-eyed and I can't see anything!" Derpy beamed at them and immediately regretted for this: Quote's face saddened upon having heard this. "What's up?"

"You're cross-eyed, but you're winged, and I have none of this", he murmured. "I don't have a mage's bump or wings, nothing special".

"Fudge, bro!" Glimmer ruffled his little brother's dark tight curls. "You know what History likes to say? You're you, and this is the main thing! What's about your being ordinary? You don't have a mage's bump, but you can use your hands..."

"Uh-huh", Dinky nodded. "Some of my classmates, the mages, use magic worse than you use your hands".

"What are you doing there, I wonder?" Derpy asked. All three made innocent faces, but a bit later Dinky jumped up (the boys had to cover more "material" with themselves) and ran downstairs, having counted the lowest stairs with her tail and its base, judging by the sound. Then her voice was heard:

"Mr. Dandy, can we..." Unrecognisable muttering followed, but it was persuasive, because Dandy, the third Turner brother, quickly drew everyone together and announced:

"Now silence everyone! Making the marks visible requires concentration!"

What marks? Oh, yes, Derpy recalled. She had heard once that some mages were able to visualise the marks - or prints, or burns, or whatever they were called?.. In all, those symbols showed the core of a person in the most minimalistic shape, and the most interesting was that everyone had something different in this direction. And not much people knew their marks, and Dandy must have decided to make them all visible at once... In a moment the room was filled with silvery blue shine, or more like glittering mist, in which images became forming over everybody's heads. Those images soon got colors and firm lines.

Wow, Derpy thought, having glanced at the Turners - their marks were almost all the same. Hourglasses, but sand in them was slowly proceeding down from oldest to youngest: History's hourglass had almost all of it in the top half, while Glimmer's - in the bottom half. Only Quote was out of the row: his hourglass had all sand in the upper half and was inside a round golden frame... Wait a bit! Despite Derpy being cross-eyed, she spotted that Victorian and Shade, the eighth and the ninth, had larger difference between the quantity of proceeding sand in the upper half than the rest, and the same was with Time and Glimmer (they were tenth and eleventh).

"Fancy a prank?" Hobo wondered. He was the first to guess Derpy's thoughts - he often did it, answering the unasked questions or telling the unsaid words, and always 100% accurately, though he was winged, not a mage. "There are fourteen of us. I don't know why, but Defender", he gestured at Victorian and Shade, meaning that someone else was to be between them, "doesn't want to communicate with us. He was just gone... And Time has a twin brother, who was gone too, but against his will. I'm not talking about Quote... You know why? We are still in such order. No confusing!"

Octavia had a treble clef over her head (no wonder, with such a name and perfect manners!). Apart from this, there appeared two more musical symbols: Vinyl had a musical note (with her passion of a DJ...) and Lyra had an ancient harp. Her namesake. Three candies in stripy papers twirled over Bon Bon's head (yeah!), and as about Derpy... Everybody said she had bubbles in her head, and they were right. They were soaring above her tow-topped head now. At least something, and Dinky had nothing, though it didn't make her sad.

A while later, when the pillow war was in its heat (such heat that Derpy and Time decided not to interrupt and to watch from the corner), Dinky ran downstairs again from the second floor, this time more craftily and pressing something to her chest.

"Here, look what we made!" she shot out, showing two ragdoll horses. One was grey with yellow mane and tail, and the other was light brown with the chocolate-colored "hairstyle". Time was the first to get what she meant, having seen that there were patterns embroidered (clumsily, but devotedly) on the toys' sides: the grey one had bubbles and the brown one had hourglass.

"Cool! Why so?" he asked.

"I like horsies", Dinky admitted. "And... er..."

"We've seen the way you look at each other!" Glimmer shouted from the stairs and got a belly punch with a couch pillow from Tricky. "So you do it this way, bro?! You just wait!"

"A provocation without saying a word", Time chuckled, watching as Dinky, Glimmer and Quote collapsed (it couldn't be put another way) in the center of the fight. "What an achievement".


	4. Quote - Unquote

"Consider us lucky", Time Turner mentioned, turning right. "Dandy hardly ever lets anyone drive his car. Well, sometimes he allows Tricky to do it, but for me it's the first time..."

Derpy almost didn't hear him. When it came to driving, she preferred sitting at the back seat and not thinking about anything, but now it couldn't be done. First, this wasn't just a car. It was Dandy Turner's car, which meant that it was unlike others. Vintage (at least eighty years old, if not more), but functioning like new, and even more - at first, when Time had tried to start the engine, it had started after he had accidentally slapped his hand over its side. No roof, yellow base, an old-fashioned klaxon - a full collection. And right now Time was driving that tyrannosaurus in the world of cars, while Derpy was next to him on the front seat.

It's so cool to ride a bike, she thought. You can turn anywhere you wish... well, almost anywhere, and while driving a car there are more rules that are difficult to accomplish... Derpy couldn't get rid of the sensation that they were going to crash any moment. Only after parking the car ("Bessie", had Dandy called it this way?) she felt alive again.

It was time to gather Derpy's sister Dinky and Time's younger brothers Glimmer and Quote from the picnic out of town, this is why this very way of moving had been chosen.

"You can drive", Derpy noticed, not feeling her legs under her while climbing out of the car.

"Honestly, I was as afraid as you", Time admitted, blocking the gear and walking down the path to the vacation base where the "holiday" for kids had been going on. Maybe it was due to her worry, but Derpy couldn't get rid of the thought that they had come the wrong way... and in a moment this thought was gone upon the sight of children running among the trees.

Glimmer - rosy cheeks, green eyes full of curiosity and cheer and a large dark fringe combed to the side (and a tiny bowtie over his sky blue shirt - he obviously had a weakness for this accessory) - appeared in a wink, as well as Dinky, but Quote wasn't anywhere to be seen. Any representative of the Turner family wouldn't be left unnoticed, and here...

"Excuse me, have you seen Quote Turner?" Time asked one of the kids' supervisors, but it was Glimmer who answered, worry overtaking his usual optimistic mood:

"Quote's hiding".

"Hiding? Where?" Time crouched to be at the same eye level with his eight-year-old bro.

"I wish I knew", Glimmer shrugged. "I tried to use the magic of searching, like Victorian taught me, but it didn't work".

"Come on!"

Soon all gang - Time, Derpy, Glimmer and Dinky - were looking into every hole of the base's house and behind every tree. Surprising as it may be, but it was Derpy's clumsiness - or, in this case, its lack - which helped them locate the escapee. Derpy was exploring the kitchen when a pile of boxes in the corner shuttered and fell apart. Yes, she was standing close to it, but she couldn't have touched it even with her tail! That meant...

Yes, it did.

Derpy removed the top box and saw a head full of dark tight short curls popping from under it. Quote, the youngest of the Turners, was huddled in a ball in an improvised room made of those boxes.

"Hello", she smiled at him, but the boy only hugged his knees tighter. "What's up? Time! Glimmer! Dinky! I've..."

The next moment she was blown off his feet by a wave of energy - so powerful that she flew across the room, her back to the front, and slammed into the opposite wall. Her wings and tail didn't soften the impact much.

"Oh, wow", Derpy muttered, not knowing what she should feel - surprise or fear. Luckily Time was quick to come:

"Derpy?"

"Your bro's over there", Derpy panted, pointing at now scattered boxes. Having recovered and come closer, she saw that Quote wasn't going to finish his sulking. He was still hiding among the boxes, as if never wishing to come out. "Time, just tell me that he's like you".

"What do you mean?"

"You're ordinary, but you can fly. And he... Just imagine that Quote threw me across the kitchen without using his hands!"

The next moment all four of them hit the opposite wall with their backs.

* * *

All the way home Quote was silent on the back seat. And that was no good. Such things hardly ever occurred to Dinky (or in front of Derpy's eyes), but the older girl knew that such state was far worse than any tears or tantrums. It was the black despair.

Fortunately one of the older Turners - who all had been absent before, this is why Time had been told to gather the youngest ones - had already returned. That was Hobo, the second of them, who spotted that something was wrong right after Time drew the car into the garage. Yeah, this messy representative of the winged race was better than any mage when it came to guessing, especially in thoughts and feelings.

"Glimmer, be a good boy and tell me everything", he asked immediately after everyone, including Derpy and Dinky, was in the house. "You're not able to tell lies or hide it for a long time".

Glimmer nervously dug the floor with the tip of his foot, his hands behind his back.

"Emm... there was a competition for creating the best table among us", he began. "Dazzle said that we were empty places compared to her because she has a rich dad, and they had dishes more posh than ours, and suddenly there was a BOOM, and all her team's food was on the ground and on her!"

"Mean", sounded from the bottom. Finally Quote decided to speak, though with only one word.

Hobo rubbed his chin:

"And then?"

"And then..." Glimmer honestly told everything that had taken place after Time's and Derpy's arrival, which made Hobo let out a long tired sigh.

"Looks like we've got a compensation. You know that all of us carry magic inside, eh? Winged ones, like me, use it when flying, and mages... it's obvious about them. But the ordinary people are also able to use magic, expressed in advancing the usual things mostly. And it has lots of proofs... But sometimes the ordinary people have inborn abilities of a winged or a mage. Like our Time. He has no wings, but he's able to fly, though it's much more tiresome for him than for winged. And... seems like our Quote revealed his hidden abilities of a mage today..."

Be careful what you wish for, Derpy thought and felt shivering down her spine - she had recalled that Quote had once complained about his being ordinary.

"Wanted to punish Dazzle", Quote muttered, not looking up at his older brother. "She was so rude, and..."

"And you unintentionally used your powers". Hobo gave him a small smile. "It's no use hiding, Quote. Have you forgotten? Each and every one of us will help you, because we are family. No one messes with us and gets away so easily".

"But... what if I hurt any of you when you..." Quote slowly uncurled from his ball of tension, but his large watery blue eyes stayed widened. "I already hurt Derpy. And then Dinky, and Time, and Glimmer, and Derpy again..."

Hobo placed his hands on Quote's shoulders:

"I may not be a mage, but I know what it is like when you have a wave of emotions that you cannot control. Next time you feel you're close to releasing it, and cannot hold it, direct it to somewhere where it cannot hurt anyone. If you ask Dandy, he'll be more helpful than I".

Quote crawled off the couch he was sitting on, approached to Derpy and put his arms around her waist (just because he couldn't reach higher):

"Sorry. I made you hit the wall..."

"It's okay. It really is". Derpy felt even clumsier than usually - partly because she had never been given such kind of attention. A few seconds Glimmer and Dinky joined them, while Time gave it the final move. Hobo was about to complete the group hug when his blue eyes sparkled with glee, and he exclaimed:

"That's more like it!"

No one got what he was talking about until small fireworks filled the whole room.


	5. Hidden

**A/N: At first I thought that this would be just one story, but then... then it began growing. By itself. There were things to be explained and to be told, and more. And, by the way, I'd like to thank The Wholocked Brony for support!**

* * *

"Good grief", Dandy Turner muttered upon having seen three metal tubes - each twice as long as his height (and he wasn't a shorty), and what to say about their weight! - roll past him, crash into the fence and nearly press it to the ground. "What's that, I wonder? You cannot complete a simplest exercise, but in the breaks you make the ground shake!"

Derpy and Time Turner were sitting on the top of the empty rubbish bins, watching the youngest Turner, Quote, attempting to cope with his newly revealed magical abilities. The difficulty was that he didn't have a mage's bump, like Dandy (who practised magic much more often than any other mage member of the Turner family), so it required concentration, and how much of it can you find in a seven-year-old? And besides, cases like this - having powers of flying or magic without wings or mage's bump - were extremely rare, this is why they had to train Quote on a dump where no one would catch them. Dandy had created a locked and empty patch, and there were loads of materials to use like training simulators.

The main trouble was that Quote could create an earthquake, send the surroundings fly or fill the whole sky with fireworks, but he almost couldn't control such strong waves of energy escaping him - they entirely depended on his mood, like spontaneous reactions. Dandy's suggestion for the kid to use his hands as antennae for his magic hadn't worked.

"Are you sure that you don't carry magic as well as flight?" Derpy asked. Time shook his head:

"No. That's for sure..."

"And... when did you first find out that you could fly?"

"It wasn't me, that's the merit of the youngest Masters". Time weakly smiled. "A family almost just like ours, many kids and all boys except for one... There are eight Master siblings, and only the youngest is a girl. Red Master... and just before her were the twins. Saxobeat and Thunder. I used to study at the same class with them".

"Who were they? I mean... ordinary, or mages, or winged?"

"Saxobeat was an ordinary, and Thunder was a mage... It's not about their abilities, it's about their character. Once, when our class was at seashore, we played Truth or Dare, and Saxobeat dared me to jump into the sea off a cliff. Everybody did, so... And I was seven then, you understand what that age is like... So, I jumped. And could have drowned, but I found myself hanging in the air just over the water surface. Luckily no one saw me".

"And what then?"

"I splashed into the water and, only after having swallowed enough to become salted from all sides, got out. Saxoboom almost died laughing".

"Saxoboom?"

"We called the twins this way", Time explained. "Saxobeat and Thunder... Sax and Boom!"

"Saxobeat Master and Thunder Master..." Derpy mused. "So very posh".

"That's their family feature for generations, I think. History told me something, but I wasn't listening much... Wanna know their names?"

Derpy nodded - she really got interested. Actually hardly anyone had told her about his or her memories, because the curse of crossed eyes worked in all directions.

"At first there was Fencer Master, a mage. For all the clocks' hands in the world, he and Dandy ALWAYS fought when being brought together! Though at first they wanted to use their common knowledge about anything, but then they had different opinion and..." Derpy had already made sure that Dandy could easily defeat anyone at hand fighting, no words about magic duels, and she could only imagine what could happen if he was given a weapon. The Turners - all the Turners - preferred to solve problems without any weapons, so that was a clearly theoretical situation. "Then there was Blackface Master, an ordinary one. He had some kind of a disease, so his skin was all greenish black, and I've seen him only once... The third was Mask Master, a winged one. My my, he enjoyed mocking our Tenderheart!"

"Why?!" Derpy exclaimed. Tenderheart Turner, the fifth brother, was all that his name suggested, and even more. He was the most... humane of all twelve, and he always helped when he was asked to. Even when it was about strangers.

"Just for fun. Tenderheart never complained, but it was obvious... Victorian and Racer, the fourth Master brother, had the same relationship. Total opposites, and in their case there was also magic from both sides".

"A family of villains, those Masters are", Derpy managed to press out.

"Not all of them. I didn't say about the fifth Master brother, Sparkler. He was a nice guy. A bit of madness sometimes, but in all he was a good guy, and a smart one as well".

"And that... Red?"

"A sweet girl. But not too talkative. No wonder... AAAHHH!"

The final yelp was caused by the pile of bins under them shaking and falling apart - both managed to fly up just in time not to collapse onto the ground and be possibly buried under them. During the talk they completely forgot about being not alone.

"It's useless, Dandy!" Quote's voice screamed as a conclusion to the bins smashing against the ground. "I can't!"

Derpy glanced down and gasped: she had never reached such height - the level of about third floor - while using her wings. She still wasn't a very skilled flyer... and she had never done it with someone else.

"Sorry", she murmured, blushing and nervously drawing her hand back from Time's.

"It's okay. Easy now, Derpy. Use your wings like a parachute. Don't make them tense... Yes, that's right".

After a few moments and three nervous half-falls Derpy's and Time's feet touched the ground again. Quote had already calmed down, but now it was about Dandy - he was observing something in a pile of metal shreds, something that was emitting pale golden light. And, judging by the expression of his dark blue eyes (surprisingly, almost all Turners had eyes of different shades of blue, except for History, who had dark brown, and Glimmer, who had forest green... and Time's eyes changed color to "dark chocolate" when the lighting wasn't enough to reveal their true shade), this wasn't any trifle.

"Run!" Dandy exclaimed, but the golden light was faster than them.

* * *

Derpy's feet hit the ground. Again. As well as Time's, Dandy's and Quote's. This time the sudden "transportation" was much quicker and at least without any crash-landing, like in that case with the potion.

She turned around to see where she was. This place must have been an abandoned shed, but now its walls were hidden behind rows and rows of weird devices, even the windows and doors were nowhere to be seen. The lighting here was of dark orange color (the first association was that this place could be inside of a volcano after explosion), and half-smoke, half-mist was covering the floor. And the air was dry here - the feeling of thirst and "throat ripping" was quick to appear.

In the farther end of the room there was a table with a kind of lamp onto them, and right next to it a large glass cylinder was settled - Dandy, the tallest of them, could have easily fitted into it, and there would be some place for skinny Time in addition.

"What is it?" Quote was too short to see what was shining on the table, so Dandy crouched, and the boy climbed onto his back, holding with both arms and legs. All the "newcomers" leaned over to have a look at that - in the middle of a small glass sphere there was a tiny soaring ball shimmering with palest silvery light and surrounded with the sparkling fog of the same color.

Dandy frowned.

"You really want to know, you lot?" When all the rest nodded, he sighed and went on reluctantly: "It's the magical core".

"The magical core?" Derpy parroted.

"Yes. The magical core which is hidden under the cover of flesh and bone". Dandy pointed at the mage's bump in the middle of his forehead. "It acts like an antenna to direct the magic to the right way. Without it, managing with energy is much more complicated, because... it's like trying to catch a correct signal with a broken device. What do you think this mist around it is? The magical aura".

"Dandy", Time called, pointing at the same glass container nearby. Inside it brownish grey feathers were flying around, kicked by endless wind... Wind? Inside a locked space? Derpy could even hear its whistling and howling, like a mini tornado.

"Do you want to know the truth?"

Derpy actually bounced up with alert (luckily she didn't break anything, and it was so easy to do it with her clumsiness and the amount of things here!) upon this voice. No one, even Dandy, hadn't noticed that there was a man in this room. A man in well-worn clothes, burnt and torn there and here, with an almost empty ammunition belt over his shoulders (one of its sections was occupied by a strange pen-size wand with a red light on the top), and, despite his obvious young age, already silver-haired. Like Dandy. But in Dandy's case it fitted him, and this one also had uneven bristle, as well as shades around his sunken bluish grey eyes and a lock of hair hanging over his forehead. No wonder - on such background he had been almost invisible. Or unnoticeable.

"Care to explain?" Dandy murmured - Derpy hadn't even heard anyone's voice sounding so... broken.

"I will. Remember who I was, Dandy?" The stranger moved his hand (covered in scratches and burns) over his hair, opening his forehead - right over the bridge of hid nose there was a small tattoo: two crossed 8-like shapes, one made of two spirals, the other of two Yin-Yang-like signs (the whole figure had similarity to a four-leaf clover) in a circle. "That's where my mage's bump used to be", he admitted in an almost casual tone. "And if you take a look at my back, you'll find two gashes over the shoulder-blades".

"Why?.." Dandy whispered. Quote clang to him, his watery blue eyes wide.

"I don't want to harm anyone", the stranger said. "Remember my name? I don't want to fail".

"Defender... you're over-estimating", Dandy pressed out.

"Really?"

Defender Turner... Yes. Yes and yes. Hobo Turner had mentioned him. The one between Victorian and Shade, the eighth and the ninth (officially) Turners. Mage's bump? Gashes on the back?.. Derpy had heard about the cases of "miracle babies", as they were called - it happened very very very very rarely, but there had been times when babies with both wings and mage's bumps had been born. But soon they had been considered dangerous, because those kids' power had been so tremendous that they hardly could control it, therefore each and every one of them had been turned into a mage or a winged. No matter how. And this Defender... No wonder. The Turners would give anything to protect each other, and...

"Do you understand what could have taken place if anyone found out that I was not only a mage?" Defender gave a bitter smile.

"I get your point, Defender, but tell me one thing: what is this place? We've been searching for you, but you were nowhere to be found".

"No wonder, big brother. I created this area with a special kind of lock, which can be opened after uniting three kinds of power of all three races". Defender squinted at Quote. "No wings, no mage's bump... I know about Time, but what about you, child?.. Ah! Magic locked in the body of an ordinary one! This is it! Your ordinary brothers used their hidden abilities and got you here!"

"But I still don't get one thing", Dandy admitted. And I don't get more than one, Derpy added in her thoughts. "You can cope with your abilities, so... why did you?.."

"Yes, I can. I still can. Magic and flying are still part of me, but in smaller doses... And it's not about me, it's about him".

Defender gestured to the glass cylinder next to the table, and a white cloud soared from out of it. Shortly after it began gaining lines and features, as well as colors, but so pale that they were hardly recognizable. Derpy gasped, as well as Quote - this figure was a perfect copy of Time Turner, even the clothes matched, but its feet weren't touching the floor, it was translucent and... cold. Cold and sad, so the girl felt a lump in her throat.

"Space!" Time gasped. The phantom nodded, the corners of his mouth twinging, as if he wanted to smile, but couldn't.

Defender nodded.

"Yes. Your twin bro, Time. I'm trying to bring him back to life, and I don't want to harm him. See that box down there?" And really, there was a box under the table, quite close to the cylinder - a tastefully carved box with a large red diamond-shaped light on the top. "It's his physical container. I've managed to restore half of his cells, but the rest appeared to be much harder".

"Wh... what happened to him?" Derpy whispered, feeling tears beginning to sting her eyes. No, no, no, don't weep, you'll spoil everything...

"Let's put it this way: only a hand was left of him", Defender replied. "Show her". Space raised his right hand - and, yes, it was made of flesh and blood, but the rest of his body wasn't so lucky. "I swore that I'll return him to life".

"Had you told us everything, we would have helped you", Dandy said reproachfully.

"No, you wouldn't. Space cannot exist outside of here, and you can't be present here for a long time. Soon you will be transported to your world, and I cannot do anything about it".

"Still we'll find a way", Dandy promised. "And say no more. We are family, and family always sticks together".

Time was less talkative - he just went forward and squeezed Space's alive hand in his own, as if trying to reassure him.

* * *

**A/N: If it's about the Doctors, what would it be without at least mentioning the Masters? Here are the definitions:**

**First - Fencer Master, mage (remember his sword-fighting with Three?)**

**Second - Blackface Master, ordinary (no comments)**

**Third - Mask Master, winged (his love for pretending to be someone else)**

**Fourth - Racer Master, mage (that racing on a bike and ambulance car...)**

**YANA - Sparkler Master, ordinary (a genius is like a sparkle among others)**

**Mr. Saxon - Saxobeat Master, ordinary ("Saxon" and four beats)**

**Sixth - Thunder Master, mage (he's able to create lightnings)**

**Lucy Saxon - Red Master, ordinary (a girl in red dress...)  
**

**Defender Turner is the counterpart of the War Doctor (he was already mentioned before, so...), while Space Turner's prototype is Metacrisis Doctor (Time and Space - an eternal couple).  
**


	6. Wings and Artistry Things

"What do they do, she said! What are their occupations, she said!" Derpy was muttering to herself, annoyed at her mother's habits of learning each and every detail about everybody and demanding doing the same from other people. Yes, maybe Mrs. Hooves was a busybody, but her daughters weren't. "I know that they are good guys, especially Time, with whom I study together. And that is all! Yes, Mummy, perhaps I'm cross-eyed, but that doesn't make me blind!"

As they say, after the hurricane comes the rainbow. But this time after the argument (one-sided) came the answer - Derpy spotted a white-winged figure in beige clothing with red accents soaring in front of the third floor of the closest apartment block. After some moments' hesitation the girl unfurled her wings and hovered up, curiosity overtaking wariness and dread. This time she didn't hit or break anything while reaching her target.

Upon closer look the wall appeared to be covered with the web of pencil-drawn sketches.

"Hi Derpy", Tenderheart Turner greeted her, having finished them on the farther side of the wall. "Why are you so enraged?"

"Nothing. A bit of argument with mother... What are you doing?"

"Accomplishing my order", Tenderheart explained, reached out to the wooden box full of small paint jars, poured some orange and brown paint onto the board he was holding and began mixing them with a brush. "I've got an order to paint this wall. Just to make it attractive, because is it pleasant to look at this?" He moved his free hand over the wall covered with scaled plaster.

"Is that... your official work?" Derpy asked in excitement.

"Mm-hmm".

"Cool!" The next words flew out on their own, against the girl's will. "Canyouteachmehowtodoit?"

"What?"

"Can you teach me?.."

* * *

After two (or slightly more) hours of soaring in front of the wall Derpy made sure that Tenderheart earned his bread and butter not for nothing. Yes, drawing and painting was fun when it was your personal deal, but when it was about public display of such size... Derpy regretted for a thousandth time that she had got glued to this. But at least she could spend much time away from her mother and all the lectures.

"How much time does it take you to paint such a pic?" she asked after having reached compromise in colors - she was filling the lines forming the picture of an airplane with brownish red paint, while Tenderheart was busy adding small details at the background (which was the city landscape with all fires and details).

"Don't know. At least three days. After the paint gets dried, I have to check out for adding more details", he explained. "Sometimes even brushes cannot help".

"Anything can?"

"Yes". Tenderheart pulled a feather from his wing and dived its upper tip in the black paint. "Delicate lines. An additional perk from being winged".

"HEYAA! ANYBODY NEEDS HELP UP THERE?!"

Derpy performed a somersault with surprise (thank goodness that she was wearing a narrow skirt, not the deadly wide one with gathers), having hardly managed not to get spotted with paint and not to waste it all. The source of this yell appeared to be a youngster one or two years older than her, leaning on a tree nearby with his arms crossed. He was dressed in a black business suit (or a private school uniform - who knows?) which made his short hair of flaming ginger color even brighter.

However, Tenderheart recognized him immediately.

"Where did you appear from?" he asked the kid, lowering closer to the ground. "I did not see you coming".

"No wonder, you got too involved... Found a helper?" After Derpy also almost landed (not as slowly and steadily as Tenderheart - there was a half-fall on her way, but at least one, not three of them), she saw the mage's bump on the youngster's forehead, hardly covered with red short locks. "You always found sense in everyone, Tenderheart... Name's Gingersnap".

"I'm Derpy".

Gingersnap squinted at her - at first Derpy thought that his lips could only stay in straight position instead of curling into a smile. Or at most they could form an evil-like grin.

"Never quite got it how you're able to make everyone useful", he mused.

"And I never got how you're able to appear after a single thought about you", Tenderheart replied.

Gingersnap's brows jumped up:

"Oh, really? You were thinking about me?"

"I was thinking about your works of artistry", Tenderheart admitted.

"Flatterer", Gingersnap smirked. "Or no. You're unable to butter anybody up... Anyway, fancy seeing what I can do? We three could finish this much faster. Perhaps I'm unable to fly, but I can perform a different thingy".

"If you insist..." Tenderheart shrugged. Gingersnap rubbed his chin in content, examining the surroundings, and grinned upon the sight of broken chairs placed next to the rubbish bin nearby:

"Just what I needed!"

Hardly had Derpy or Tenderheart blinked when the planks and sticks, obeying Gingersnap, dashed from their "required place" directly to the wall (both got nearly pinned to it with them) and in a moment were put together in a fine and firm ladder.

"There", Gingersnap summed up, satisfied, and looked down upon them two. "Now I can correct all your faults..."

"Wow", Derpy exhaled. "But you... you had..."

"Ha! You gotta have this", Gingersnap pointed at his mage's bump, "and a bit of imagination, and you can transform anything without touching the material. Fancy a prank? I learned how to do this while babysitting two more carrot-tops like me!"

Judging by Tenderheart's bewildered gaze to the side, this was the least thing he expected.

* * *

"Well, at least now mother won't complain about my supposed not going out with friends", Derpy beamed, taking a sip of her chocolate milkshake - she, Tenderheart and Gingersnap were sitting in a cafe, because the second one had insisted on "giving them a reward for help". The painting had been totally finished - no wonder, with three pairs of hands instead of just one!

"Never mind, Cross-Eyes", Gingersnap assured her. "Believe me, each and every parent is able to find a fault about a kid. My elders thought I went crazy when I showed them this way of building things!"

"I think now I'm going to go crazy..." Tenderheart mumbled, watching someone on the outside. Derpy followed his look and spotted a dark-topped winged man in black clothing with silver accents, accompanied by younger twin boys, one also dark-headed, the other blond, and dressed differently, but sharing the same physical features. It wasn't seen if they were ordinary or mages, but surely not winged. And Tenderheart surely knew who those were.

"Uh-oh", Gingersnap muttered. "Something's telling me it's not gonna be fine!"

* * *

**A/N: Gingersnap is the counterpart of Turlough in this AU. And guess who's going to come to dinner... **


	7. Bad News

"Well, well, well. Whom do we see here?" The man in black-and-silver clothing slowly walked into the cafe, and the twins hurried after him. Now it was clear that they were "the perfect trio", as Derpy's mother said - that meant there was one mage (now it was seen that the blond-headed boy had the mage's bump on his forehead), one ordinary (his dark-haired brother) and one winged (this very man).

Tenderheart continued sipping his strawberry milkshake, pretending that he was interested in nothing apart from this, though his forehead glittered with nervous sweat.

"Maaaaask, is that really so necessary?" the dark-haired twin groaned. In case with those two it was all about differences - though the boys shared the same face lines, height and everything (apart from their hair color) physical, their clothing was showing their preferences - the dark kid was wearing a business suit, just like Gingersnap, and the white-topped was dressed in well-worn black pants and hoodie (together with a red collar around his neck).

"It is, Saxobeat... it IS". Mask (was that Mask Master? Derpy began digging in her memory, trying to recall the names and features of the characters from Time's story about the Master family, but the spoken words were more helpful than this) approached to the table where Derpy, Tenderheart and Gingersnap were sitting. "Don't you want to greet an old friend, Tenderheart?"

"Not really, Mask", Tenderheart replied, while Gingersnap frowned, his mouth forming an upside-down smile.

"You told me he was polite", the tow-topped twin put in.

"He is, Thunder", Mask replied, faintly grinning. "He just doesn't want to hear bad news".

Tenderheart didn't reply.

"Leave him alone", Gingersnap interfered. "The only bad news here is you coming".

"Oh boy, don't you know about things that are worse than meeting someone like me? I thought you did. Come on, Redhead..."

"It's Gingersnap!"

"...don't you remember that song? Sweet dreams are made of you, time to go and look them through..."

The next moment Mask was already supine on the floor, while Gingersnap, sitting on top of him, was strangling him:

"DON'T - YOU - DARE - RECALLING - THIS - WHEN - I - AM - AROUND!"

In a moment the cafe turned into pandemonium. Tenderheart, despite his wish not to get interfered in trouble, was pulled into the crowd against his will, while Derpy, obeying her first thought ("get out and find someone to help!"), darted to the door, losing her feathers on the way (someone managed to grab her on her right wing and tear a handful of feathers out).

Half-running, half-flying with clumsy jumps there and here, Derpy directed her way to the Turners' house, but bumped into a walking colorful explosion before she could reach it.

"Watch it, buddy!" Blast Turner snapped, twirling around. "Ah, that's you... Hey, have you got into a shop when there was a sale?"

"T-Tenderheart... Gingersnap... in the cafe... fighting... need help..." Derpy panted, her damaged wing twitching. Blast's yellow brows jumped up:

"Tenderheart and Gingersnap fighting? I thought they were pals, and Tenderheart doesn't like fighting..."

"No, no, no! There was... Mask and Saxobeat... and Thunder..."

"That's bad! But I think I know what to do! Go back, find a mage and ask for help! Now!"

Lost and confused, Derpy ran back - this time her right wing completely surrendered, trailing behind instead of sticking up. The only hope was that the fight in a cafe could attract someone... correct... and it did.

Two heads - one blue-haired, the other turquoise-and-white - were easy to be spotted.

"Vinyl! Lyra!" Derpy gasped, elbowing through the growing crowd which was almost blocking the way in.

"What's going on here?" Vinyl demanded.

"Bad news, bad memories and bad events", Derpy gasped, trying to speak louder than the crowd or at least stay close to her friends - it was very east to get lost in this insanity. Then all of a sudden there was a sound of glass breaking, and she spotted Blast soaring over them next to the broken window, his colorful wings flapping the air.

"There you are!" Without any warning Blast grabbed Vinyl and Lyra by their wrists and almost tossed them into the window, and then did the same to Derpy. Inside there were less people (no wonder, the crowd blocked all the ways for entering, and now it was calm - partially because Mask and Gingersnap were tied back-to-back with a stripy knitted scarf almost 4 meters long. And there was one more Turner here - the fourth one, Tricky, and the owner of this accessory.

"Calmed down?" Blast asked, and Derpy saw that Tricky wasn't just standing - he was keeping Saxobeat and Thunder motionless with his magic. Guess Vinyl's and Lyra's help appeared to be unnecessary.

"He humiliated my family!" Gingersnap snarled.

"You're just too fiery!" Mask retorted. "Anyway, the deal's done! So, Turners, I've brought some news for your fifth boy. Don't be scared if he refuses to see anyone. I know that he's the complete copy of his name".

"What - have - you - done?" Blast hissed.

"Showed him a little proof of his fears coming true", Mask replied, smirking, and howled with pain - Blast punched him in his face. No wonder. You have to be a monster to laugh at someone whose fears came true, Derpy thought... or potentially did...

"You are a freaking stinker", Blast summed up after a seemingly unlucky trial of phone call. "I could've said something worse if it were not for girls around. Trust me, you'll regret about this".

"A bitter truth is better than a sweet lie..." Mask got one more teeth punch for this.

* * *

**A/N: Bad news is bad news, but this is not the end of the world...**


	8. Star Shocked

Bad news is bad news, but not till such limit, Derpy thought. At school Time was behaving as usually, but his eyes stayed sad when he was laughing or eagerly telling about anything. This must be really something serious if... People like those Masters would've said "it doesn't matter because it didn't affect me", but this was a completely different case.

Derpy finally decided to ask about this on the way home, when no one could hear them. Who would care for two youngsters going home from school?

"Time?"

"Hm?"

"Tell me what is going on. Please. I won't tell anybody".

Two vertical wrinkles appeared on Time's forehead, but then he sighed and nodded.

"It's all about Star Shock".

"Star Shock?"

"Mm-hmm. A friend of Tenderheart's... Guess Mask approved my big brother's fears coming true".

"What do you mean?"

"Okay... There was a plane crash. Disastrous consequences and everything, and Star Shock was there. Guess Mask threw it right into my brother's face".

"Oh..." The words were stuck in Derpy's throat. Horror, plain horror - and not only the fact, but the way it was brought as well...

"And... Space was bothering me".

"Space? Your twin?"

"Yes. I think he's not amused. He's rebelling, I feel it. Wonder why?.. Ah!"

Time's body twitched in a strange way, as if he was pulled forward from the inside. Or no, as if there was another living being inside him, willing to break free.

"See?" he gasped. "He wants me to go somewhere..."

"I'll go with you".

Time wanted to say something else, but was pulled forward again. Any of them could've guessed what was going on - one of the houses' walls nearby was gleaming with familiar pale golden light.

* * *

The duo found themselves in the "hidden" place once again, and this time they were met by Space, who was soaring in front of them, observing Derpy and Time with worried expression in his eyes (his face seemingly wasn't capable of expressing emotions yet, but his state was obviously better).

"Hi Space. Wow, someone's angry", Time began. Space nodded and crossed his arms, nodding at Defender, who was fussing over a new item in this messy room full of anything possible - this was a giant metal capsule, a bit similar to those in which tomograms are made. "New invention?"

Space shook his head and frowned even more.

"Come here, you two", Defender called without stopping his work. "This twinsanity of yours, Time, made me bring you here. Otherwise he wouldn't have left me and you alone..."

"What are you doing here?" Time asked, approaching closer. Oh dear. Defender looked as if he hadn't been sleeping for weeks: apart from his (perhaps eternal) bristle there and here, black shades were surrounding his sunken eyes, and his pupils were so wide that they almost hid his natural silvery blue eye color.

"Correcting", Defender replied, adding some gluey pinkish liquid drop-by-drop into the small hole on the capsule. "Mask brought bad news, and I'm correcting this". Time and Derpy just stared at him. "Okay, you dumb-bells, I am resurrecting that friend of Tenderheart's. Satisfied?"

"Resurrecting?.." both pressed out. Space nodded once again - he would've grumbled something if he had voice, Derpy thought.

"All that I needed was a particle of that boy and a nice set from the Building People collection from a different world", Defender went on in such tone as if he was cooking a pie. "You know very well, Time, that Victorian loves travelling through all kinds of dimensions. I asked him to find a thing like this, and he did. Today children build cars and gears out of details, and somewhere they make living people out of tissue and everything... There was a difficulty about wings, but I solved it. Guess it would've been more complicated if this Tenderheart's friend was a mage instead of being winged".

"But why is Space angry at you?" Derpy finally spoke.

"Some processes require time, and there's no time to waste. Here I can make time run faster or slower, but this has consequences, and Space doesn't want them to occur".

That's why he looks so grown-up! - Derpy realized. Too much time!

"I wish I had this set before. I could've resurrected Space as easily as that... well, comparably, but now, when Space is a work-in-progress, I only have to wait till he becomes a normal living being". Defender finished adding "ingredients" to his capsule and entered settings on the panel on the capsule's side. "Okay, let's see... Hope all the calculations were right".

The capsule's cover became transucent, Defender glanced inside and clicked his tongue.

"Hmm, seems right. The brain contents, memories, emotions... Right. Now I only have to bring him to life".

"What did you use as a particle?" Time wondered.

"It's easy to get a lock of hair or some skin remains if you know where anyone lives. I used my magic", Defender replied, and behind him the capsule opened. "Let's see".

A soft groan was heard from the capsule, and a kid's head covered with think black hair showed itself from behind the "container's" wall, followed by vinous red wings.

"Where am I?" the youngster asked, blinking like a woken owl. "Am I dead?"

"You're not dead, Star Shock", Defender replied. "You're just a bit out of time".

"Ah!" The youngster's dark eyes widened, and he backed away at the sight of Space.

"Don't worry, my twin is just a half-living, unlike you", Time interfered. Star Shock squinted at him.

"Oh man. Time? Time Turner?"

"Whoever else?" Time grinned. "Come out, Tenderheart's waiting for you".

"But... I don't get it". Star Shock rubbed his head. "I remember... I was in a plane, there was such panic, and then... it was so dark... and now I'm here, god knows where, and I'm..." He looked at himself and deeply blushed.

"Don't worry, no one saw anything", Defender assured, throwing a bundle of clothes to him. "Get dressed, and hurry up".

* * *

"He always does it when he's upset", Time mentioned, when the three of them - himself, Derpy and Star Shock - spotted Tenderheart hovering over the Turners' house roof like some kind of a living phantom. "He says it helps him to relax... No, no, don't you even dare!" he snapped, having seen that Star Shock was preparing to fly up. "You'll knock him off the sky!.. Wait there". Time gestured at the bench next to the house's wall, where the soaring one couldn't have spotted them. "I'll do it. Tenderheart! Come here!"

No answer.

"Tenderheart! I've got a message for you!"

No reaction.

"Seems he's too deep in his thoughts... Cricket!"

Tenderheart's head shook, and he glanced down.

"It always works", Time smirked. "Hey big brother, come here! Are you going to spend your whole life there?"

Tenderheart huffed, but slowly landed next to his brother, with his back to Derpy and Star Shock.

"What do you want?"

"At first - I want you to stop it. You're exhausted".

"I'm not tired".

"Yes, you are... No, no, wait!" Time hurried, when Tenderheart's wings unfurled again. "Turn around".

"Huh?"

"Simply turn around".

Tenderheart obeyed - and froze, wide-eyed, at the sight of the one now in front of him.

"See? Bad news gone. And no hallucinations... though you're tired, I see it..."

The next moment Derpy and Time had to prove that they could run as well as fly - they fled for their life until they were caught by some kind of a rope... or, more specifically, by a stream of magic. Judging by its emerald color, it was Victorian's.

"I see the set worked", the eighth Turner beamed. "Relax. It's going to pass soon. Tenderheart gets used to changes, if they are not too crushing".

"Like this time?" Derpy panted.

"Whatever".

* * *

**A/N: Star Shock is the counterpart of Adric in this AU. I told that I'm going to give everyone a chance to come out.**


	9. Pegasus Hobo

"No-no-no-no-no! Not that one! I tell you, not that one!"

"Why? Look, the reaction's on!"

"That's what I'm afraid of... Run!"

BOOM!

Derpy, who had stopped by the tree next to the Turners' garage to try and deduce what had been going on there, suddenly found herself hanging on the branch about four meters high from the ground. Oh greatness... - she thought, having glanced down.

"Just ace!" sounded from the side where the garage was, and Derpy turned her head, trying not to thing about her aching fingers still clutching the branch. There were Riddler Turner and a winged girl in rock-styled outfit, both covered in soot or its relative. There had been a narrow escape, that's for sure: even the garage's doors were now blackened from the inside.

"Yes, Killershot, ace!" Riddler teased. "I agree with your passion for explosive chemicals, but can you imagine what Dandy will do when he realizes WHO did it?"

"Will he?" Killershot grinned and flapped her wings, the color of which matched the color of her pony-tailed light brown hair and tail. "I remember he doesn't have these!"

"But he has magic and can easily get you with it... Derpy? What are you doing up there?"

"Studying the patterns of these leaves", Derpy replied. "Whatever do you think, Riddler, I'm stuck!"

This was over in a mere moment: her fingers finally gave up, and she flopped onto the ground. Luckily it wasn't too painful - her clumsy wings did help.

"Now not stuck", Killershot commented. "Did you see the explosion? Pure perfection, eh?"

Riddler rolled his eyes:

"Don't mind her, Derpy, she's a bit off when it comes to things that go fiery, damaging and..."

He was interrupted by the sound of hurried steps from the inside of the house.

"...loud". Upon this Riddler and Killershot darted away just in time not to be caught by Dandy, who flew out of the front door, ready to give them a nice punishment: his mage's bump was glittering, and this meant he was prepared to use it. But it quickly "switched off".

"You just look at this. Bet all my samples are broken... That's Killershot! It's her script! One day I'll surely get her!.."

The Turners are not the only unusual people around here, Derpy thought.

* * *

Some day later Derpy was riding her bike, delivering the mail, when she found there was chaos in the Turners' garage again. Having decided to finish her task first - whoever knows how much time the situation would take? - Derpy made herself ride on. But her curiosity played its part: she mixed some of the letters because she was thinking about what was going on in the Turners' place... luckily she found the confusion out and corrected it before anyone could have found out. I only lost time, Derpy thought to herself angrily.

The mess wasn't over when Derpy returned. But now it was in the house, while the poor garage held tracks of something far worse than the previous explosion, and two Turners - Shade and Time - were attempting to get rid of it. The first was cross, while the second was accepting his fate.

"Hi boys, was that an atom bomb?" Derpy wondered, having chained her bike to the house's peril.

"It was a very Hobo catastrophe", Shade replied through clenched teeth.

"No, it wasn't, big bro", Time objected. "It's cuz of Killershot's explosion some days ago. Apart from breaking the test tubes, it managed to mix some chemicals, and Dandy's magic must've influenced them in a peculiar way..."

Derpy raised her right brow, but the answer was quick to follow: Dandy rolled onto the house's steps, clutching something squirming in his grasp. Despite his being the fittest and perhaps physically the strongest of all Turners, this "fight" must've been tough for him - his "candy floss" ash-colored hair was sticking in all direction, while his tail lacked one of its locks and his face was red with tension.

"I knew you're a crazy soul, Hobo, but I'm going to get tired of taming you, undergrown mustang", Dandy panted, and the creature in his arms stopped arching, twisting and turning. "Promise you won't escape?"

"Yes..."

The creature was released. No, it wasn't a mustang, that was a really sarcastic comment. This was more like a pony. A very cartoonish pony. It was as high as Derpy's waist, with long thin neck and legs and with a small muzzle, almost half of which was occupied by hugest blue eyes. Its fur was light grey and all uneven and messy around its hooves, while its mane (which wasn't a normal mane at all - it was more of a human bowlcut) and tail (a true ponytail style!) were jet-black. In addition, its back was adorned by a pair of wings.

"I told you I won't escape", the pony noticed, twirling its tail impatiently.

"Let me explain. That brat Killershot got all my liquids mixed up, and today this little sneak was fooling around in the garage, and then..."

"DANDY!" the pony yelped, flapping its huge ears. "I'm older than you!"

"And you see the result. Hobo the mythical creature", Dandy finished, paying no attention to his brother's mood. He knew that it would switch from furious to cheerful in a mere second without even pausing.

"Hobo the mythical creature? Wonder what he would be?" sounded from behind the fence.

Hobo attempted to facepalm, having completely forgotten about his new limbs:

"Oh crumbs, I forgot about him..."

The next moment the fence door was open, and a dark-topped lad just a year or a bit more older than Derpy scampered into the garden, completely okay with the fact that he was wearing a genuine red kilt apart from a loose white shirt and well-worn shoes. At first Derpy thought he was an ordinary, but then it came out that he was winged - his red wings with black and yellow feathers there and here were folded and firmly pressed to his back, therefore almost invisible from the front.

"If I were to make Hobo a mythical creature, I would've made him a dwarf or a..." The lad stopped next to Hobo, who narrowed his eyes at him. "What - is - that?"

"Believe me or not, but this is your best friend, Thistles", Dandy informed in a casual tone.

Totally fitting name, Derpy thought. Thistles!

"Hobo... what happened?" the lad marvelled. "Did any of you master the transformation magic?.."

"Of course not!" Hobo yelled. "I'll give you two hints: Killershot and Dandy!"

Thistles's lower lip trembled:

"Hobo, you're just... oh hee hee hee... you're so... baaaaaah hahahahahaha!" The speech drowned in the attack of helpless laughter which made him fold in two. Even Shade at the background chuckled, which took place rarely enough.

Hobo blew raspberries at him and trotted back to the garage, which made Dandy rush there before he could get inside first.

"Pegasus Hobo is mixing the potion while Thistles is dying with laughter and Shade is finally made laugh forcibly. Nothing more is going to surprise me", Time finished.

* * *

**A/N: Time for more characters to play. Killershot and Thistles are the counterparts of Ace and Jamie respectively.**


End file.
